Horror in Atlas
by Johnny Grimm
Summary: Oneshot.. a new evil is set loose on the world of heroes. With the death of a beloved savior, Paragon is once again in danger of a deadly stalker.


**HORROR IN ATLAS**

_By J. Hamilton_

It was a clear Summer day in Atlas park, where new heroes were gathering for a Rikti war Veteran-Organized training program. Birds (and capes) were flying in the sky, and the leaves were at their greenest of the year, a sign of an early Fall around the corner.  
It happened so suddenly that many didn't believe it at first, because deaths in the news have been rare since the War. But in Atlas Tavern, just down the street from the entrance to steel canyon, the second in a week had happened.

"Did you hear the news?" "what?  
"Johnny Grimm... Is dead"

Mike miller was sitting at the bar with Jake Gordon, two local reporters. "What the hell happened to him?" asked Jake, who had interviewed Grimm often for the paragon times. "Base got blown up by Arachnos" said Mike, and at a low whisper he added, "They say lord recluse ordered the attack himself"  
Jake couldn't believe it. Just a month ago he was visiting Grimm's mountain base in Striga for an interview and dinner. It was the birthday of Second-in-command Leader, Flambe Cat.

John was a nice guy, but a little violent in his methods, rarely sparing his enemies. But he took his job very seriously. He was a socialist, so people knew he would never be famously respected, but still many saw him and his vigilante group, "The Anti-Reich" as the paragon antiheroes. He was always fighting for those less fortunate than him, even during the base raid he died in, he prevented any other casualties by evacuating the other members.

Suddenly, Mike and Jake heard a voice from the other side of the tavern.  
"Grimm... is dead? Tragic... the good die young."

It was a tall man of about 25 years of age, wearing a black trench coat and a hat that looked like it may have been stolen from The "Family." On one arm he had what appeared to be a small cast. He walked over to them.

"I guess he must have done something pretty heroic to Anger Lord Recluse that much"  
"Yeah," said Miller, "This one time he saved Positron's sister from the Spiders. Still, an assassination order for an entire Super-group is pretty heavy"  
The man nodded, and turned his attention back to the stale beer in his hands.  
"You know, Jake, The odd thing is, the autopsy shows that he didn't die from the blast, someone else killed him. They found some pretty deep scratch marks all over his Torso, and he was stabbed pretty bad by some sort of claw... looked like he was attacked by some sort of wild dog"  
Jake was shocked. Such an amazing fighter being tortured like that. Also, It didn't make sense. Arachnos Soldiers don't have claws..Do they?

"Who was the killer?  
"Well, They found blood on the floor of the base, after running some samples, some of the blood didn't belong to Grimm, the Doctors say it belonged to a villain from Port Oakes, an assassin by the name of 'Ill Reb"  
The man in black looked up from his drink.  
"Ill Reb? I've heard of him... didn't he get that mafia guy framed for a kidnapping? What was his name"  
"I think his name was Bloody vicious." Said mike. Jake recalled the name, Grimm had been trying to arrest him for a while.

The man stood up.  
"Interesting.. I should get going. Barkeep, I'll pay for their drinks"  
While leaving, He stopped and started writing something down on a crumpled piece of paper, and handed it to Jake. "Open this when you get home he said, and rolled it up, putting something in it.. But because of the dim lighting, Jake could not see what exactly it was.

As the man walked away, Jake noticed that the back of the man's neck was scarred badly, and in his jacked there was hole that almost looked like it was made by a bullet.  
"Yo, Jake"  
"Yeah?  
"I'm leaving too.. take it easy man. Old john would have wanted it that way."

When Jake got home, he found a note on his desk. it said:

'Jake.. that is your name right? Thank you for not knowing better.. Ignorance is bliss... If it wasn't for your slow logic, i would be rotting in brickstown again. Outside of society...is where i wanna be.'

Beneath the note was a silver bullet. It looked so familiar, it belonged to an assault rifle. "No..." He thought out loud "It would have been destroyed. Unless...

The next day Jake heard the news. Mike was murdered leaving the bar... He was attacked by a Mysterious man in black in an alleyway.  
A clawed glove was found nearby.

THE END.


End file.
